


Second Time's The Charm

by ThatOddNerd



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Multi Chapter, Romance, Second Chances, a dash of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-14 03:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4548621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOddNerd/pseuds/ThatOddNerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six months after the Midnight Oil Incident, as the whole Stark case had been nicknamed in the office,  and two months after the 'official' launch of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daniel agrees to a transfer to the London office to assist in the set up of things, and as a liaison between the two offices. Thompson isn't thrilled about losing his agent to not only S.H.I.E.L.D., but also the London S.H.I.E.L.D. office, but agrees. Angie will miss her new friend but intends to use it as an excuse to travel to London. Howard is...well...Howard. The Jarvis' are reluctant to lose their new friend as well (Anna especially having become particularly attached to him.). The Howling Commandos love the idea of having the young man close by, fully intending to 'take him under their wing'. And Peggy? Well, Peggy doesn't know what to think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. London, Transfers, and Second Chances.

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter took three hours to write. O_O I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

 

"I'm sorry, you're asking me what Cassy?" Daniel was leaning across a table set off to the side of the bustling bullpen in Scotland Yard, for smaller conferences and file overview. The woman, Cassandra Maisie, a young detective working for the Yard with an already impressive record, was leaning towards him as well. 

"Well, I mean, you've been here for three weeks right? Helping with that string of bombings and the initial set up for our new office. I know you are set to go back to the States next week but... I mean... you like it here don't you? Or rather, I've gotten the impression you do." Cassy's expression showed no signs of trickery, malice, or anything awful. Her expression was...hopeful, a bit worried, kind, and one Daniel had gotten very used to over the past weeks. Working with the people at Scotland Yard to help catch the bomber and set up the initial things for the new S.H.I.E.L.D. office in a non-descript building not too far from the Yard's building, he found he rather did enjoy it there. The people were kind, understanding, interesting. Sure, there were some assholes, but  they were everywhere, and , at least in the division he'd been working with, few and very far between. He'd been staying at a nearby hotel, and joining Cassy and her husband Thomas for dinners and outings practically every day since his arrival. Cassy, a warm hearted but incredibly intelligent woman of 27 was breaking barriers down in Scotland Yard left and right, becoming one of the first full fledged female detectives and earning the respect of her peers in droves. She was as kind as she was keen and clever, and she and Daniel had practically been attached by the hip since he started there. She was an easy person to talk to, genuinely curious in other peoples' life stories, and wanting nothing more to help others. Thomas, a tall, burly young man, also of 27, took to Daniel much faster than he'd thought he would, and although he seemed gruff and stoic on the outside, Daniel knew there was a kind smile, a big laugh, and loads of jokes on the inside. If he were to be perfectly honest, he'd absolutely loved it here in London, and was mulling over how his heart jumped when Cassy first asked her question.

"Yes." He replied truthfully. "I love it here actually. Practically everyone has been great, and I've become rather attached to you and Thomas..."

"The people in the office have taken to nicknaming us the Three Musketeers." Cassy quipped, a smile on her lips and in her eyes. Daniel smiled back. Daniel leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms and working out some stiffened spots on his body. In what he thought was a casual move, he looked towards where Peggy, Howard, and Colonel Philips, who'd come along for a couple of days at the beginning and then came back four days ago, intending to take Daniel with them when they went back to the United States. They were all standing over maps and police reports along with the head of the division, Johnathan Lancaster, trying to tie up loose ends in the case.  Cassy looked over in his line of sight and smiled. During one particularly crazy night that had accompanied a very difficult day at the job, Daniel had gone to the Maisie's for dinner and they had all gotten royally drunk. This was a week after he'd arrived, and he ended up spilling out his entire life's story; including his growing love for a certain English S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. 

_"Oh ...oh hell, that sucks." Cassy had said, through hiccups and sips of her third glass of whiskey._

_"You're a good man, Sou-sou...soui...Daniel." Thomas commented, grabbing the wine bottle from it's spot near Daniel on the coffee table. Daniel sighed and took another sip of his drink, trying not to laugh._

_"You're a gentleman, and that is a tough find these days." Cassy added. "Should she never return your feelings, we'll find you a girl."_

_"Cassy!" Thomas looked positively scandalized and Daniel was blushing. Cassy laughed wholeheartedly and patted Daniel on the shoulder._

_"What? I can think of a few friends who would be delighted by Daniel, and Daniel would like them as well, so tell me if that doesn't work out yeah?" Her hand still on his shoulder, intense blue eyes looking right at him, Daniel nodded right away, earning another smile and a "Oh hell, I drank all the whiskey." from his friend._

"Daniel, love, I know you're brain's turning over so many possibilities, but perhaps the best solution to this issue is more space." Cassy commented, bringing Daniel's gaze back over to her in the bullpen. 

"I'm not sure if there's anything that's really an issue." Daniel replied, leaning upright and taking one of the folders Cassy had been looking at, opening it and removing a set of crime scene photos. 

"What makes you believe that?" Cassy asked, stealing his coffee cup in retaliation. Taking a long sip of the brown liquid inside, she eyed her friend with concern. "Did you two have an argument?"

"No." Daniel grabbed her coffee cup, and took a sip, not looking up from the photos he was examining. "I thought, rather foolishly, that there was a slight possibility that she might like me back, and as time goes by, it feels like that thought was more of an illusion. If there's no hope in the situation, why should there be a situation at all?" 

"Oh Daniel..." her tone made him look up at her, to see an expression filled with concern, amusement, and a friendly affection he'd grown (Happily.) used to over the past few weeks. "Talk to me, what makes you think she isn't interested at all when you thought she was?" 

"This is hardly work material." Daniel muttered, leaning close to her over the table once again. Cassy leaned forward as well, a smile on her face. 

"Oh rubbish, of course it's work material. We're friends, this will affect a work decision, plus, I really really want to know because the last time we discussed this, you were still under some impression that she did like you like that. What changed?"

Daniel looked up from his photos and considered his friend, wondering if it was entirely wise to let her into yet another layer of his insecurities. Taking into consideration her loyalty, generosity, and wonderful ability to keep secrets, he decided it was alright.

" I asked her out ...right after that whole incident with Stark six months back was over, and admittedly my timing wasn't stellar. She had a lot on her mind and things to iron out. She had to help her friend move out of the room she'd been kicked out of thanks to the whole thing with Stark, into the mansion Stark is letting them live in as a 'sorry'. But she had some other thing to do, something private. So she declined. I was sad, but I understood, and I kind of berated myself for the awful timing. She took a rain check, and I didn't want to seem like a  forceful prick, so I left it up to her to choose whether or not there would be a date. We almost went about a month later, but work interrupted. A month after that, Angie, Carter's best friend, had been stranded by some douche on the outskirts of town and she needed Jarvis to come get her and Carter to go kick the guy's ass. I wasn't getting in the way of that. It started to feel like the universe was working against it. After that, she didn't bring it up again, and, again, I didn't want to seem pushy so I never asked. Then S.H.I.E.L.D. was about to be started and she was needed there. She spent more and more time at the other office, and when she was at the S.S.R., she was pleasant and nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but it almost felt like she was avoiding me. We usually worked well together on information gathering, in and out of office, we make a good team. She actually _squeaked_ a no when Thompson asked if she wanted to team up with me for one case. She apologized later, said she was just wanting  a solo mission, which I understand, but something about it felt off. "

"You felt like she was, in the politest way possible, blowing you off?" Cassy asked, a slight smile on her lips. Daniel blushed and nodded. "Oh Daniel, you poor sod. I don't think she was blowing you off. But I do understand how you are feeling, and I understand why you think she is blowing you off." Cassy picked up both of the coffee cups, and moved to get up. "Which only strengthens the value of my offer. I've already talked about it with Lancaster. He likes you, the people in this office like you. We mentioned a possibility of this to Philips a week ago, he said it would be up to you. You can stay at the hotel, the Yard will pick up the bill, however, I have spoken to Thomas and I know for a fact he would love it if you stayed with us, in that nice guest room at the house. You'd be helping with the rest of the set up and agent transitioning and training, and you'd be a liaison between us and the States' office for awhile as well." 

"How long?" Daniel asked, his face betraying his thought process. This was almost ideal. 

"Six months." Cassy replied. "But..." 

"But?" Daniel inquired, eyebrows shooting up. 

"But, if at the end of the six months, things are running smoother than a polished bell, you're over Agent Carter, and you would want, the spot could become permanent." 

"Permanent?" 

"You'd become an official agent of our office as well as your duties as a liaison." Cassy set the cups down temporarily and looked at her friend. "We'll help you find a flat of your own, and you could settle down here. If things work out." 

"I see..." Daniel looked conflicted and Cassy pursed her lips.

"I know it's a lot to think about. The permanent spot doesn't need to be considered for half a year. I know even the six months is asking for a lot. You have family back home, a life, but I think this might be good for you." 

"Can I get my family flown over for Christmas? Or can I go there for Christmas?" 

"Yes of course. If the Yard or our S.H.I.E.L.D. office won't pay, me and Thomas will." 

"We can have all my things shipped over?" 

"Yes." 

"Can I get a cat?"

"What?" Cassy looked at him, checking to see if he was serious. 

"I'm kidding Cassy, I'm kidding." Cassy rolled her eyes but smiled. "I know Thomas is allergic. I wouldn't do that to him. He'll hide my service gun and that's just not good." 

"So you'll do it?" Cassy asked, picking the cups back up, excited. Daniel took a chance and glanced over at the other table again, watching Carter talk animatedly to the others. He sighed. 

"Yes, I'll do it."  Cassy was beaming, putting the cups down once again to hug him , before picking them back up, getting more coffee, setting them down at their table, and then shooting over to the table with Lancaster and whispering something in his ear. Lancaster looked over at Daniel , raised a brow enquiringly, and after Daniel nodded, he smiled and nodded back. Unknown to Daniel and Cassy, now engrossed in the photos from before, Peggy had watched the encounter, and after seeing the silent exchange between Lancaster and Daniel, she felt a bad, uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. Two hours later , the two groups split to do separate assignments and get something to eat. She saw Lancaster gather Philips, Maisie, and Daniel, and go into his office for nearly twenty minutes, blinds drawn, before emerging, laughing a bit and shaking hands. Noticing the look on her face, Howard, who had been sitting across from her at the table, followed her line of sight, his eyebrows raising.

"Wonder what's going on there." He commented, trying to be as casual as possible. Peggy looked from the office door to Howard, frowning. 

"I don't know." She admitted, trying to seem indifferent. Apparently she failed. As soon as Philips came back to the table and took a seat, Howard pounced. 

"So, Peggy here looks rather concerned over your secret meeting. What's going on? Are we ditching Sousa?" Peggy, in that moment, wished she'd let the man go to jail. 

"Well, yes and no." Philips replied, grabbing one of the wrapped sandwiches on a plate nearby. " The S.H.I.E.L.D. office here has requested he stay on to help with the rest of the set up and act as a liaison between them and us back in the States for awhile. They've become rather attached to the young man it seems. I was asked about it in passing a week ago, and today, Maisie asked Sousa if he wanted to do it and he said yes. We talked logistics, transfer work, all that. To be continued tomorrow. We're going to call Thompson since Sousa is still technically an S.S.R. agent as well. But since I'm technically his boss, I don't see there being an issue."

"I see." Peggy commented, her tone stiff, although she was trying not to sound like the news affected her. Philips looked up from his food to look at her, his expression questioning.

"If you're wondering why you weren't consulted Carter, or you Stark, it's more because it would be easier to run it past the higher ups than go through everyone else. It's going to be a fast transfer. We weren't trying to go over your heads to offend you." Peggy nodded, knowing he was telling the truth, and silently thanking God that he hadn't caught on to the real reason she was upset. (Okay, the going over her head upset her a _bit_. But she understood.) Howard, however, was looking at her with an expression of concern, and she shook her head to cut him off.  He shrugged and went back to tinkering with the new device he'd been working on, and they lapsed into a silence. 

She had been hesitant when it came to Daniel, she admitted that much to herself. He was a good man, a good agent, and there was definitely a spark there between them. They got along well, he made her laugh, genuinely laugh, for the first time in years, and  she would be a liar if she said she hadn't noticed how fit he was the night she stayed with him at the hospital. He treated her like a human being, and she, after much consideration after the fact, was impressed by how fast he put the clues together and discovered she was the one helping out Stark. Most importantly though, she felt a connection to him that she'd never felt with anyone else before, even Steve. Being around Daniel felt good, being around Daniel felt right. Being around Daniel felt like both being a school girl with a crush again and coming home. When Peggy had realized she was falling in love with Daniel, and falling hard, she panicked. The last time she'd fallen this hard, her heart had been broken so badly, she thought she'd never be able to repair it. Her history with this was hardly showing a good track record, and she wasn't sure she could go through that again. 

She loved him, she was quite sure he was the love of her life,  and that frightened her. 

Not that she thought Daniel would ever intentionally hurt her,far from it. The world was cruel and had a way of separating lovers, she knew this much as well. A part of her wanted to spare her heart and Daniel's from a potential break so bad that neither of them would recover. 

She knew it sounded rather cocky to assume Daniel was just as smitten with her as she was with him, but she wasn't that dense. She knew when he'd had a crush on her, she saw the crush grow into love, and even back then it made her nervous. 

Their first and second dates had been interrupted, and she wondered if the universe was giving her a polite way out of the entire thing. Except she didn't want an out. She hadn't realized how much time she'd been spending with S.H.I.E.L.D. business until Daniel no longer looked up to greet her when she came in the office, but rather started when she said hello, as if he hadn't been expecting her at all. And she supposed he had every right to feel this way. 

Then, like a school girl panicking in front of her crush, when Thompson asked her if she wanted to team up with Daniel for an assignment, the prospect of spending hours alone with him when she was still battling herself and the fact that she'd fallen in love with him, she said, no, she squeaked, dear god, 'no' faster than Thompson could finish the last vowels in his sentence. Inwardly she cringed and wanted to slap herself so hard she'd feel it for a week. The look on Daniel's face, shown briefly but long enough for her to catch, was of pure hurt, and she felt awful. She avoided him for hours and then came up with an awfully lame excuse about wanting to work on an assignment on her own, and mentally kicked herself the entire way home that night. Angie's "English , for the love of God that was your chance to lay a kiss on him and seal the deal!" when she told her later about the mess was, to her, well deserved.

She supposed, deep down, that there was a part of her gearing up to try and ask _him_ out, and start all this over. She thought, when Philips had asked her to ask Daniel (And Thompson.) if Daniel could come and start working for S.H.I.E.L.D. part time , because "I looked at his record and it was damn impressive." that she'd been given a second chance. When he stayed with the London office for the three weeks, she hadn't thought much of it. She'd missed him quite a bit, being teased by Howard, Angie, and even Anna Jarvis, when they caught her moping over his being gone. (Although Anna and Angie admitted they missed him quite a bit as well.) But she thought it would be only that, three weeks. Three weeks and then Daniel would come home and she would ask him out for drinks and they could start their lives together. 

Apparently she was wrong. 

She was happy when she found out that Daniel had garnered quite a lot of friends in the office, and that he'd become close to Cassy and her husband Thomas. Daniel looked happy, and that made her smile. Things seemed to be going well for him and a silly part of her thought that would make asking him out even easier. What she hadn't counted on was the London office wanting to keep him on for six months to help set things up. What she hadn't counted on was how comfortable Daniel was here in London. What she hadn't counted on was Daniel's attachment to the people in this office and to the Maisies.

What she hadn't counted on was his saying yes to the six month transfer offer. 

What she hadn't counted on was his wanting to move on as much as she had been trying to move on. 

What she hadn't been counting on was the possibility that she wouldn't get a second chance. 

She'd been scared of being in love again, of starting the rest of her life with the love of her life, and now...now he might be gone forever. 

"Agent Carter?" Peggy started, not realizing she had been so lost in thought, until she saw Cassy Maisie standing in front of the couch and coffee table in the kitchen that she'd moved to half an hour ago. Cassy's expression was slightly shocked but also amused, holding a hand out in apology. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." 

"It's fine. It's just been a long day. I think I'm going to be going back to my hotel soon." Peggy replied, smiling back at the young woman. Cassy nodded in understanding, before making a gesture with one of her hands to ask if it was alright to join her on the couch. Peggy nodded and Cassy sat down at the other end of the couch, a serious but tired look to her. 

"It really has been a long day. This entire case has been positively draining." Cassy commented, letting out a big yawn. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Cassy turned to Peggy. " I wanted to ask if you were angry with us...with me, for going over your and Stark's head over having Daniel transferred here. I hadn't considered that before, and Lancaster was handling the inquiring of the people in the higher ranks. I was asked to talk to Daniel because we've become friends."

"I was...surprised, but no, I'm not angry. Daniel is a good agent, it was a good choice. He's become rather comfortable here. I think it will be good for him. He needs a  break from the shenanigans going on back home." Cassy, Peggy noticed, had the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. There was something about them that made one feel like she was looking into their souls. She understood why Cassy had one of the best interrogation records in the force.

"Daniel has become very dear to me, and to my husband." Cassy said, as if she were stating a fact so obvious to her husband and her own existence, that it would be obvious by just looking at them. " I daresay he's my best friend now, and I believe I caught him telling Thomas I was his. Although Thomas and I argue about which one of us is his real best friend, but that's neither here nor there." Peggy laughed and Cassy smiled. "I may not have known him long, but I still feel rather protective of him and concerned for his well being."

"I am as well." Peggy agreed. Cassy nodded as if she was telling a student they'd gotten the correct answer. Her expression became warmer, and she shifted into a more comfortable position on the couch.  

"Daniel, Thomas, and myself got rather smashed about ten days ago and ended up telling each other our life stories." She paused for effect. " So I know...about his feelings for you." Peggy felt her cheeks heating up, the urge to run swelling up fast within her, but she forced it down. "Oh don't worry, we haven't told anyone. I am excellent at keeping secrets. What I would like to know, and Agent Carter, please, _please_ do not lie to me because for one, I will see right through it, and two, it just isn't classy, but do you...do you have feelings for him as well?" The entire room was quiet, them being the only two in there at the moment, and the silence became heavier than lead. A minute passed, two, three...

"Yes." Peggy finally said. "Yes I do. In fact I'm rather in love with him but...I'm terrified. The last time I was even close to being this in love with someone...it didn't end well." Cassy nodded in understanding and Peggy felt a bit ashamed at how translucent that had sounded. " I think...I didn't mean to push him away, I wasn't trying to. A part of me sort of foolishly believed he'd wait for me. When he started working part time for S.H.I.E.L.D., I thought I'd been given a second chance, and I was gearing up to ask him out for drinks. I didn't...I didn't expect him to be transferred." The blush on her face deepened and suddenly her coffee cup became endlessly fascinating. There was another minute of silence before Cassy was the first to break it once more.

"Carter, I like you, I like you quite a bit. And I believe you when you say you love Daniel as much as you do. I believe Daniel's sort of...given up. You know how he is, he doesn't press, he's a gentleman. He figures he has no chance with you so in an attempt to help him move on he takes on this job." Peggy nodded, frowning. " Daniel is still as in love with you now as he was before but he thinks there is no chance, so he's going to stay and try to forget. I want to see him happy, and I think he would be very happy with you." Cassy slowly got up from her spot on the couch, stretching out her limbs and yawning once again, before turning back to Peggy. "Which is why there will be a string of 'sudden need for consulting with the American office' throughout his stay with us, and several requests for your presence here to help with cases." Peggy smiled and Cassy smiled back, her eyes softening. "He's a good man, a good catch." 

"Yes he is." 

"I want nothing but happiness for him." Cassy reminded.

"I know, I feel the same." 

"I should warn you, if he decides to stay here and you two aren't together I plan on introducing him to some lovely young ladies I know." Peggy flushed but nodded. "We agree that Daniel deserves to be happy. I'm rooting for you Carter." Cassy added, making Peggy's flush turn into a full on blush. 

"Thank you Detective Maisie. 

"Cassy." Cassy corrected. "Call me Cassy." 

"Well then, you call me Peggy." 

"Alright Peggy, I shall." Before she went all the way through the door into the hallway leading to the bullpen, she turned back once again, to look at her. "Would you like to join Thomas, myself, and Daniel  for dinner tomorrow? We're moving Daniel's things from the hotel to our place, he's going to be staying there for the duration." 

"I'd love to." Peggy replied, smiling.

"Good. See you tomorrow Peggy, I'm beat. I'm going home."

"See you tomorrow!" Peggy called back. 

Well then...

It appeared that that second chance hadn't slipped away after all. 

 


	2. Connecting The Dots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Peggy, Daniel, Cassy, and Thomas enjoy a nice quiet dinner, trouble is forming elsewhere in the form of a Soviet assassin with a grudge.

* * *

 

Before Peggy knew it, the next day had come and she was already on her way to the Maisie house, Cassy having given her her address and a phone number should the cabbie get lost ("It happens, as you know." Cassy had joked earlier that day.). She wasn't entirely sure why she was so nervous. It was just dinner with friends. Except it wasn't. It was dinner with a woman she was acquainted with, that woman's husband, and the man she was in love with who thought she felt nothing for him. 

Well, this was going to either go well or very badly. 

When the cab came to a halt, Peggy let out a whistle when she saw the house. It was in a very rich part of town, and while Peggy already knew Cassy was well off, she hadn't realized she was _this_ well off. When she knocked on the front door, she expected a prim, well dressed maid to answer it, but to her surprise, she heard someone barrelling towards the door, and jumped a bit when the door flew open, and a bubbly, very excited looking Cassy was standing in front of her. She took her by her hands and led her inside, all the while beaming ear to ear.

"Peggy! Peggy you are here! I'm so so glad! We've been waiting ages, I know I said 19:00, but we were all anxious, weren't we darling?" By the time she'd finished her sentence, said with remarkable speed only matched by the remarkable speed of the actual person dragging her down the hallway, they were at the door to the living room, and Cassy had directed her question at a man Peggy assumed was Thomas Maisie, sitting on a love seat, smiling at the both of them. Daniel was no where to be seen.

"Oh, positively agast with excitement." Thomas replied teasingly. Cassy rolled her eyes and motioned for Peggy to sit down on the couch between the two love seats, before plopping herself down next to her husband.

"Ignore him Peggy, he thinks he's funny." Cassy remarked, nudging Thomas by leaning into him with her entire body. Thomas laughed. "Daniel is just finishing putting his things in their right place in his room. We'll have his things from the States sent over soon. He'll be right down." Cassy explained, eying the look on Peggy's face. Peggy in turn blushed deeply and then coughed.

"Yes, well, it's always nice to be around friends." Peggy herself wondered where that overly poetic set of words came from, and inwardly winced at how ridiculous she was sure she sounded. From the look the Maisies were giving her, she was sure they could see right through her. Cassy hadn't told Thomas about the other part of their conversation, but Thomas, as she had been told, was incredibly perceptive, just like his wife, and something told her he knew just by looking at her as well. 

"I work for the Homicide Division at the yard." Thomas explained. "I've dropped by while you and the others were here in London but I always missed you by about ten minutes. Bloody inconvenient, I was always so excited to meet you." Peggy blushed. "People talk. And no, I do not just mean Daniel when he's drunk." Thomas ducked and missed, much to the surprise of Peggy, but not Cassy, who was grinning at someone behind her, an expensive looking throw pillow that had been aimed at his head. 

"You're hilarious Tom, really. What a joker." Daniel hissed, startling Peggy just a bit. She hadn't heard him coming along the corridor at all. "There's nothing wrong with bragging about your friends' achievements." Daniel directed his comment partially to Peggy, smiling at her as he sat down next to her on the couch.

"That's true." Cassy added, her already bright smile even brighter. "I brag about you all the time Daniel. Proudly." Daniel blushed and that made Peggy smile. Cassy really was a good friend. "Daniel, tell Peggy the story you told me earlier." Daniel's blush deepened and he shook his head vigorously. That caught her attention, Peggy never knew him to be that easy to embarrass with a story. "Come on Daniel, tell her."

"Do I have to?" 

"Yes! Oh my god, yes Daniel you do. I swear if you don't, I'll break my secret keeper vow and tell her myself. Or you could relinquish the secret keeper part and I can tell her. Either way she has to hear about this." 

"Okay, now my curiosity is piqued. What is this story Daniel?" Peggy asked, turning to him, a smirk on her face. "Is it terribly embarrassing?"

"Oh my yes." Thomas muttered, making Daniel glare at him. He laughed. "Just tell her Daniel. She's a good friend isn't she? Surely she's seen you in a worse spot." 

"She has, but I don't want to tell the story anyway. I don't think Peggy needs even more stories to blackmail me with."

"Is this career ending bad or just never-live-it-down bad?" Peggy inquired. 

"It's never-live-it-down bad." Thomas supplied. 

"Isn't dinner ready yet? Lillian said it would be ready soon didn't she?" Daniel blustered, making Cassy burst out laughing. 

"Lillian shouts when it's ready and you know it, stop being a ninny Daniel and tell the story." Cassy took a decanter filled with what looked like whiskey from a tray on the coffee table in front of them, poured him a measure,  and carefully nudged it towards him. "Tell." 

"Fine, fine, I'll tell, especially so Peggy can know why you are just so deliriously giggly and chipper right now." Cassy and Daniel shared a look , and appeared to exchange words with their eyes. This went on for a few seconds before Daniel smiled. "So I've been here for nearly a month now, and I've adjusted pretty well to everything, even the lingo. When I was here during the war I didn't really have the time to take in either. Earlier today, as my things were almost all moved, Cassy and I decided to go to the market to pick up some last minute things for tonight. Lillian had asked if we would. Anyway, we're at this one shop that sells different types of groceries for all sorts of meals, but each section was divided up by an initial category and then by a sub category. It was a pretty fancy store. And I was looking at the aisle names and..." 

"He asked me why English people were so obsessed with pudding!" Cassy had clearly been dying to butt into the story, and she had finally cracked. Her blue eyes were sparkling bluer than any pool she'd ever seen. 

"He asked you why the English are so obsessed with pudding?" Peggy asked, bemused and amused at the same time. "I wouldn't say we were obsessed would you? I mean I like a nice fruit tart every once in awhile but..."

"No no no no." Cassy waved her hands, barely containing her laughter. "No, he thought..."

Suddenly a voice sounded down the hall calling for dinner. 

"Dinner's ready!" Daniel echoed, getting up faster than Peggy had ever seen him go. Thomas got up, laughing, and followed him out of the room. Peggy and Cassy left the room together, Cassy giggling. 

"Daniel meant pudding, like the custard type of pudding. Like banana pudding. The man spent nearly a month here hearing us all talk about pudding this and pudding that, and he thought we were all essentially obsessed with a custard dish. I'd send him and Thomas out to get food and Daniel would always come back with something like banana pudding and me and Thomas just thought he really liked banana pudding." The two girls burst out laughing and were still doing so when they entered the dining room. Daniel rolled his eyes. 

"Daniel, settle a bet for me and Cassy." Thomas said, twenty minutes into dinner. 

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. What's at stake?" 

"If I'm right, we go to Paris for our honeymoon in two months. If Cassy is right, we go to Portugal." 

"Portugal?" Daniel asked, eying his best friend with a warm smile, to which Cassy returned.

"Your stories about your parents and the culture were so interesting. Especially the one about your grandparents and their adventure in Lisbon. I want to see it. Plus you said you went as a child, you could give us pointers and ideas of places to check out." Daniel nodded, clearly touched.

"Alright, what's the bet?"

"That story you told us, about the time your troop and a couple others got stuck behind enemy lines during the winter. Cassy says you were in Germany, I thought it was France. You remember, you'd been trapped by the enemy, everyone was cold and you'd almost been killed,  and you were saved by..."

"Germany." Daniel cut in, cutting into the chicken on his dish rather quickly. " We were in Germany."  

"YES!" Cassy fist pumped the air, clearly excited by more than the prospect of going to Portugal. "Told you it was Germany!" Cassy shouted, smacking Thomas hard on his right shoulder. 

"Yeah, yeah, you were right."

"Of course I was right." 

The rest of dinner went along with jokes and laughter, the topic of Germany dropped right away. Daniel walked Peggy to the door and waited with her for a cab in the chilly night air. 

"If we had enough firepower to fight them off, we wouldn't have needed Captain America, now would we?" Peggy said suddenly, after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"I'm sorry?" Daniel asked, taking his eyes off the moths dancing under the street lights across the street.

" The first thing you ever said to me." Peggy explained. "You were the soldier who snapped at me when I asked why the hell you all managed to get trapped behind enemy lines when you were supposed to have enough firepower to back off two armies." She heard him sigh, and felt herself shift a bit on her feet to get more comfortable. "I'm sorry. My accusation was out of line. I know what happened, I hadn't been fair. It was so stressful...but that isn't an excuse." 

"I didn't...I wasn't trying...okay I was." Daniel shifted uncomfortably himself, and let himself lean against a light post. " I didn't know Thomas would bring that up tonight. I told them the story when we were all swapping war experiences a few days ago. I didn't...and I didn't mean to make it seem like I was trying to protect you. I know you can handle yourself fine on your own. But when it comes to lost loves..." Peggy risked looking over at him and saw his eyes fall, feeling her heart break along with it. ...that's different. That's a matter of the heart. It's more difficult to fight off." 

"Yes it is." Peggy whispered. "Daniel, I..."

"Your cab is here." Daniel cut in, waving at the car that had just pulled up at the curb. Peggy nodded, and hugged Daniel goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow Peggy." Daniel said with a smile, waving to her from the curb.

"You too!" Peggy called back. As the cab turned the corner, Peggy slumped back in her seat, and fought the urge to cry. 

* * *

 

Little known to Daniel, he was being watched. Not by the night or the stars or even a random bird landed on a tree branch. 

Through the scope of a rifle, someone was watching him watch the cab drive away, distress clearly on his face under the light of the post near him. 

"My oh my, trouble in paradise." The person behind the scope whispered with glee. "Come on now Peggy, don't try and fool me into thinking he isn't important to you, it'll never work."

She watched him go back inside the house, and, waiting a minute more, she pulled the rifle back in through the window, set it to the side on a table, and sat back in her chair. The muffled screaming coming from the room across the hall made her roll her eyes. She pushed herself up from her chair, grabbed a hand gun, and walked out the door and across the hall. Entering the room quietly, she glared at the young couple tied up and gagged on the couch. 

"Now listen, " She began, her exasperation clear "I told you I would only need this place for a week and I was not lying. I leave in two days, true to my word. I'll leave two thousand pounds like I said, although..." looking around the extravagantly decorated sitting room, she resisted the urge to cluck disapprovingly. "...it isn't like you need it. I might give it to an orphanage, I don't know. Either way, I'll be gone. And if you tell anyone, anyone at all , I will find out. I will find out and I will come back and shoot both of you and the people you told and their families. Do you understand?" The couple went silent and nodded, pure fear in their eyes. "Good. Now stay quiet, I've got surveillance to do." She walked back across the hall and enjoyed the now silent house. She sat back down at her chair by the window and picked up a pair of binoculars. As she waited for stirrings across the way, she looked over at the bed in the room, specifically the cuffs on the headboard. 

_"Want half?"_

She shook her head, the images of her friend and the Disney tunes that had been plaguing her all night vanishing, at least for now. 

She moved forward, noting the cook or so she'd guessed from what she'd seen over the past few days, leaving for the night through the front door, and taking note of the time in a little notebook nearby. 

"I go back and forth," she began in a sing song voice. "holding a Russian nesting doll," She saw, through the binoculars and an open window, Daniel walking to his room. "I split it into two parts," Daniel opened the door to his room, paused for a moment, and then went inside. "and put them into the children's' hands." One hand holding the binoculars, the other on the neck of the rifle, she smiled. "Spokojnoj noči, Agent Sousa." 

 

The end (Of the chapter that is.). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So the little rhyme Dottie sing-songs at the end is a Russian rhyme literally called "The Russian Doll/Хожу-брожу, матрешку держу". And ""Spokojnoj noči" means 'Good night.'. I had to look them both up. XD . But I thought that it would be a nice touch.


	3. Howling For Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after a tragedy occurs, the Commandos come to London to help out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's been re-written! I like this one much better. Fleshes out the story a bit better, and I got my heart-to-heart between Peggy and Dugan that I wanted. Thank you to all the people who have been so patient and who've been sending me such kind messages. You guys have been lovely.
> 
> I would however, like to discuss an issue that I have experienced, as well as, unfortunately many of my friends who also write fanfiction. Recently one of my friends received a rather scathing comment, and came very close to quitting writing. I've also seen so many posts on Tumblr talking about the problem that is people going into the comment sections of fanfics, and insulting the writers and the stories. Here's the thing, there is a huge difference between constructive criticism and being just plane rude simply because a person didn't like the fic. It's fine if you don't like a person's fic, but going into the comments and criticizing them, even if you think by saying why you didn't like it will 'help' them, is not alright. Comments on structure, offers to help with grammar, things like that, those can be helpful. But saying you didn't like how someone wrote something, or you disagree with a choice the fic writer made in the chapter, that isn't helpful and honestly, all it does is make the person feel bad. There seems to be this stream of thought that just because something is out and about on the internet, a fanfic here on AO3 or Tumblr, that a person should criticize it and give their piece of mind because they read it. And when those people are called out for being rude or saying rather unnecessary things, they get defensive, saying they were only speaking their mind or you shouldn't be upset because you posted it, you should have expected some comments you wouldn't like, stop being a sissy/being upset because someone was blunt. People who post here or on Tumblr or both, they spend a lot of time on their work. They do it for free. They get excited about an idea, write it down, and then have the immense courage to post it, because it does take courage to post your writing. They share a part of themselves with the world, and that shouldn't be met with catty criticism just because you didn't like the fic.
> 
> SERIOUS NOTE DONE.
> 
> ENJOY THE CHAPTER! IT GOT HELLA LONG!

* * *

 

The knocking was loud and frantic, born of desperation and fear. Combined with the screaming it ensured that not only was the entirety of the Maisie household, Cassy, Thomas, Daniel, the cook John, and the maid Lilly, but the entire block was woken.

Cassy was the first to the door, her frightened expression illuminated by…

The blaze coming from the fire across the street. And in front of her, two of her neighbors, both of whom lived in the block of flats currently aflame.

“Call… call the …the…” Thomas, John, Lilly, and Daniel all came up behind Cassy in time to see one of the two at the door, Sarah from what Cassy recalled, faint into the arms of her brother James.

“Thomas!” Cassy shouted, finally snapping out of her initial shock. “Thomas the fire dep…”

“On it!” Thomas called back as he ran into the sitting room where the telephone was located.

Lilly and John helped James get his sister into the sitting room, while Cassy and Daniel walked across the street, the fire burning hot enough to feel before they’d even left the curb. They joined the group of horrified and scared onlookers as they watched their home burn. Tears were being shed, shouts issued, calls for family members who were probably already dead or dying.

“Jesus…” Cassy breathed. “I… I’m going to try and see if I can get anyone out.” Cassy handed Daniel her outer robe. “No need for flowy garments. I’ll catch myself on fire with that.”

“I’ll go too…” Daniel began, but Cassy shook her head.

“Daniel, love, I have no doubt of your abilities as a hand to hand combatant, a marksman, a smashing, brilliant detective, or as a soldier, but let’s face it, either the fire will catch your leg, or you’ll be saving some poor sod and die in the process. Possibly the both of you. You’re a good, strong, worthy agent, but I’d rather not see my best friend die because his damn wooden leg caught on fire alright?” Daniel was slightly stunned by her declaration, but nodded all the same. Cassy nodded back, a small smile on her face, and turned to leave before stopping. “Oh damn, I need something to cover my mouth and nose…” She looked at her dressing gown and shrugged before ripping an arm of it off and tying it around the lower half of her head and rushing inside.

She was gone for a worrying ten minutes before Daniel heard the sounds of sirens, the fire trucks making their way closer and closer. The fire had increased a great deal, what was once just contained to the street and first level, now occupied the second, and he had no doubt the third and final level would soon follow. Cassy emerged just as the engines pulled up, pushing two terrified and oddly still drowsy looking people through the entrance and down the stairs.

“Sit. Sit down. I… I’ll see about getting…god I… Daniel?” She shouted his name and he rushed over as fast as he could. “Daniel could you take these two to the house and get them cleaned up and … we will need a doctor. I …the things I saw Daniel I… but that’s for later. Go. I’ll talk to the firemen. Tell Lilly to bring out water and food for everyone yes? Doesn’t need to be fancy. They need to eat something, I heard it helps with shock.”

It had been one of the longest nights of Daniel’s life, and that was saying, well, a lot. Most of the tenants had gotten out. No children dead. Even the cats and dogs survived. There were, sadly, six occupied body bags that were taken from the scene to the morgue that morning. Cassy and Thomas went back and forth from the scene to the house, helping with reports, food and water dispersal, and everything in between. People were given temporary hotel rooms, called for relatives to put them up, all in between eating, crying, fits, and every other imaginable action that went with such an occurrence. The firemen had stopped the fire three hours later, and by then it had consumed most of the flats in the block it’d started on, and half from another.

The couple Cassy had saved were carted off to the hospital, suffering from smoke damaged lungs, a couple of burns and bruises, and some other odd wounds that weren’t explained by the fire. Cassy’s comment on what she had seen had been forgotten almost immediately. By the time the firemen had cleared out and the amount of police had trickled down to about five, it was noon and all the Maisie household wanted to do was sleep for three days, but they knew that wasn’t an option.

As soon as they entered the bullpen of the office, the noise in said space died completely. Cassy sighed, sniffed her jacket collar, rolled her eyes when it smelled 100% of smoke, and then walked over to her desk. Daniel followed. Thomas waved a goodbye to them and went off to his own division. Peggy had resisted the urge to jump up and run to Daniel when she saw him, but only by a hair. She was sure the rumor mill was already doing its work, and she’d be damned if she contributed to it. Stark looked surprisingly worried, and Philips, despite his stoic expression, was concerned as well. Daniel set down his jacket, briefcase, and set his crutch down against the desk before collapsing into his chair. He looked across the desk at Cassy, who was in a similar position to his own in her chair.

“Daniel…” Cassy began, her voice barely above a whisper. “Daniel I saw…I forgot until now, I saw…dear god…” She leaned closer, across her blotter, and Daniel mimicked her. “There was a telescope, a case for a sniper rifle, a fancy one with its own scope as well, and there were…files. On us. On you, me, Thomas, Carter, even Lily and John! It was in that one couple’s flat, the ones I had you bring to the house. I just wanted them out and away. Daniel, I found them tied up. I found them tied up and pinned to the lady’s shirt was a note…I meant to save it but there just wasn’t time to consider that and get them out of there… Daniel… it said…”

“Carter, Philips, Stark, Maisie, Sousa, my office, now, we have things to discuss.” Lancaster called from the door to the aforementioned room. Each summoned person said their acknowledgements, but Cassy caught Daniel’s arm as he rose to get up. “Daniel, the note said ‘Whose got the gun pointed at who this time, Agent Sousa?’.” Daniel froze, the memory of that moment in the hallway, his heart pounding, pointing the gun at the angry, dangerous blond woman in front of him. A woman who haunted his nightmares on occasion. Someone he’d thought, foolishly, they’d heard the last of. “Daniel?”

“Midnight Oil.” Daniel said in response as he moved to get his crutch. The comprehension dawned on Cassy’s face, and it went white. “Exactly.”

“Do we tell everyone?” Cassy asked as they walked towards the door to the office.

“Well we have to, don’t we? Dottie Underwood…at least that’s the name I know her to be associated with, she’s dangerous. Beyond dangerous. She’s lethal. Lethal and extremely intelligent. She was sending me a message. She knows where I live, the people I care about. The only question is why is she targeting me?” As they went through the door of the office the conversation fell silent as they joined the others. Daniel felt Cassy, sitting to his right at the conference table in the room, nudge him and slide over a piece of paper, her neat hand writing scrawled on the page.

 _‘What if it isn’t you she’s sending a message to? What if you aren’t really her target?_ ’

Daniel looked at his friend curiously, which made Cassy roll her eyes and slowly take the paper back, pretending to write notes as Lancaster discussed the findings at the crime scene in gruesome detail.

_‘What if she’s using you to get to someone else? A way to draw a certain someone into a wild goose chase by hurting someone they love?’_

Cassy saw his eyes move momentarily to Peggy, who’d settled herself across the table from him and was listening intently, or so she was pretending to, to Lancaster’s report. She saw the internal battle in his mind through his eyes and wished he could see the reality of the situation as clearly as she did. As Thomas did. Hell, even Lancaster had asked Cassy once if she’d heard anything about the possibility that… but when she saw clearly that he dismissed the possibility, at least in it being the real truth, she felt a bit of her soul groan in frustration. Daniel took his pen and looked down, pretending to write notes on the case as well, not like he needed to, he was there for all of it anyway, and Cassy caught Peggy’s eye line move over to the young man across from her, her expression etched with worry and sadness. Daniel hadn’t told her what had happened between them outside the house that night, and she never asked. It wasn’t any of her business, not really. She did what she considered somewhat appropriate but knew when to draw the line when it came to meddling with her friend’s love life. She felt the piece of paper being nudged against her arm and slowly slid it in between her left arm and her notebook, glancing down when Lancaster started shuffling through victim reports.

_‘Okay, so let’s go with that aim. Say Dottie believes Peggy loves me enough to view me as a potential way to hurt her. As soon as she realizes she’s wrong, what next? Should we tell Philips to put a detail on Peggy’s brother? Her friend Angie? Stark? What if she doesn’t realize she’s wrong? Am I just supposed to have two police officers follow me around everywhere? No offence to your fellow police officers, but I’ve seen her take down men trained to take people like her down. How do we handle this? Set a trap?’_

Cassy’s horrified expression must have been noticed by all, because after a strategic cough from Stark, she noticed everyone was staring at her.

“Everything okay Maisie?” Lancaster asked, genuine concern in his voice.

“Yes sir. I’m just…I saw some awful things last night sir. I …I heard people screaming as they burned and I saw one person run down a hallway on fire… I’ve never seen something like that in person. I’m just a bit shook up is all. I’ll be fine.”  With a look that told her he wasn’t entirely convinced she was alright, Lancaster went on reading the details of a Ms. Molly S. Hudson , who’d resided in the first level of flats, and her frantic rush through her home to save her keepsakes, including the only photo she had of her long gone friend Mary. Cassy noted the different looks she’d gotten, all concerned, with a touch of something that was unique to everyone in the room.

Stark looked mildly confused.

Philips tried to look like he hadn’t been concerned but failed.

Lancaster, bless his heart, looked like he was going to dismiss her for the day to get some sleep.

Peggy looked ready to get up and help her out of the room. (Although she noticed the one second eye flicker to Daniel.)

Daniel …well Daniel thought he knew why she looked so horrified but he didn’t, not really.

He thought, no doubt, that she was horrified at the prospect of Dottie going after other people Peggy loved, and she was, slightly, sure, but what brought on her expression was the suggestion that they use him as a _trap_. Bait. Lure the woman out.

That was out of the question. She wasn’t going to let her best friend risk his life. There was another way, there had to be.

She was just about to bring up the note and the things she’d found to the group when the sound of the main door to the bullpen, flying and then crashing open, startled everyone in the room.

“Hello!” A carrying, booming voice sounded from out of the room. Peggy groaned. “We’re looking for Peggy Carter and Chester Philips, you see ‘em?”

“Good god, who called them?” Stark balked.

“I did.” Colonel Philips replied, getting out of his chair. “Sorry about this Lancaster, I didn’t think…of course what was I expecting from the Howling Commandos? I’ll go tell them to shut up until the meeting is over.”

“I’ll do it.” Peggy stood up so fast her chair nearly toppled over. “They’re my friends. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen them. Maybe I can get them to move to that pub across the street.”

“But why are they here?” Lancaster asked, his expression a mix of understandable annoyance and confusion.

“More muscle. Back up. Plus there was a string of similar arson cases near where they were posted in Germany. They’re…” The sounds of commotion, people talking to the Commandos, and them replying, loudly, and laughing, erupted, and Philips sighed. “…they’re a lot smarter and clever than they seem.”

“I would like to meet these men. I’ve heard stories. Can we adjourn for now Lancaster? I’m famished. I’m sure Daniel is too.” Cassy asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief and hope. Lancaster sighed and looked at the clock. Nearly 2 in the afternoon.

“Alright. Let’s come back together tomorrow.”

“Boys!” Peggy called out as she entered the bullpen. The Howling Commandos all looked towards the door, and Dugan’s smile widened with happiness.

“Carter!” Dugan boomed. “Good to see you!”

“And I you. Let’s go to the pub across the street and catch up. We can talk shop tomorrow.” Peggy said hurriedly, grabbing her coat from her temporary desk and walking unusually fast towards the men.

“Mind if we join Carter?” Cassy asked, her tone that of genuine want and happiness at this change of pace. She saw the momentary battle waging itself in Peggy’s eyes, and she knew it wasn’t herself Peggy was trying to avoid. “Daniel and I haven’t eaten since dinner last night, we’re positively starving and we could use a drink. Rough night. Daniel looks alright now but this morning he looked like a poor page boy, the type you see in those odd sketches from the 1800’s. Soot everywhere, cuts from this one lady who was crying over losing her stuffed d- ouch! Okay, Daniel, I’ll stop.” Daniel must have pinched her arm, because she was now rubbing the back of it, near her elbow, and giving him a halfhearted glare. He was blushing himself and looking everywhere but at Peggy.

“Of course!” Dugan hollered, walking over to Daniel and throwing an arm around his shoulders. Cassy, who’d moved around the desk to make way for the man. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you Agent Sousa. A _lot_.” Dugan winked at Peggy, whose face flustered, and she took Pinkerton by the arm, and said, rushing.

“Let’s not waste time shall we? Pub. Food. Let’s go.”

Dugan nudged Daniel a bit in the side, smirking, and began to walk himself. Cassy followed them, along with Jones and Sawyer. Cassy noted, with approval, how Dugan was careful with Daniel’s bad leg, and matched his stride with Daniel’s. Aware and not pointing out the obvious. Cassy decided she liked Dugan.

They had settled in nicely at the pub, ordered food and drinks, and grouped up for discussion. Jones and Daniel quickly fell into conversation, each recalling crazy tales of living in poor neighborhoods, war stories, and other tales. Cassy pounced on Sawyer and Pinkerton, laughing when she saw Sawyer’s confusion with certain English idioms that he’d yet to pick up. ‘I’ll have you talking like a true Brit by the end of this night Sawyer, just you wait.’ Cassy said, laughing.

That left Peggy with Dugan. He demanded a firsthand account on what happened with Dottie, and whistled when she described Daniel’s fight (From what Daniel had told her.), and her own standoff with the Red Room agent herself.  The Midnight Oil. Dooley’s sacrifice. The hypnotist doctor. Stark.

“That poor bastard.” Dugan replied, after Peggy finished describing how Dottie had gotten access to the basement to begin with. “I mean, it is sort of his own damn fault, but he…”

“I know Dum Dum, I know.” They grew silent, watching their friends converse, laugh, and genuinely enjoy themselves. Cassy and Daniel, Peggy noted, looked less tired and more at ease than they did when they entered the office earlier. They still were tired, mind, but it almost seemed like one of the many metaphorical weights on their shoulders had lifted.

“How are things with S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Dugan asked, breaking the silence between them.

“Good. Well…hectic, but good.” Peggy replied. “We’re excited to be opening a new office here. More coverage. We’re hoping for an office in Egypt next.”

“Egypt? Sounds good to me. Tell me if you guys need another agent.” Peggy laughed and Dugan smiled.

“What, getting sick of this lot already?” Peggy teased.

“No, but I’ve never been to Egypt. I’d kind of like to see Howard Carter’s Tut discovery.” Dugan admitted, blushing a bit.

“Why Dum Dum Dugan, are you telling me you’re into history? I’m telling.”

“Oh shut up.” Peggy stuck her tongue out at his comment, and he laughed.

They lapsed into another comfortable silence, and Dugan watched his friends with a feeling of content for the first time in a long while. 

He observed Peggy with interest, noting that she seemed… lighter than when he last saw her. Not in the physical weight sense, but Carter was beautiful and didn’t need worry about that. Lighter in the sense that an emotional burden that had been weighing her down was lifted. Like she’d let something, or someone, perhaps both, go.

They had talked about Steve the last time they’d seen each other, but not a real heart to heart. He knew Peggy was a strong woman, and that after Steve’s disappearance, and the declaration that he was officially missing in action, she would be fine. She loved him but her life hadn’t revolved around him. A first love maybe, she’d never talked to him much about her childhood. That would get to anyone. He remembered his first love. He had been 16 and foolish, as one usually is with these sorts of things. They’d been together for a summer, and then her family moved out of the country, her father a Navy man and his newest assignment in Italy. Twenty plus years later and he still remembered her. At least, he thought, he knew where she went. He knew, from a friend of a friend, that she was alive and well, married with two girls and a boy. He knew she was alright. Peggy didn’t get that, and she never would he figured. The area Steve’s plane had went down in had been searched for months, funded by Stark, and nothing really turned up.

The weight she’d been carrying regarding Steve, he wondered if that was what she’d let go. He hoped it was. As much as he missed his friend, understood what he and Peggy had had, short a time as it had been, and knew how many regrets had come from it, he was happy she was moving on. Or so he believed.

“So, you never told me what happened to the blood sample.” Dugan chanced, noting how she’d, probably unintentionally, been staring at Daniel the entire time.

“Oh…” Peggy turned away from looking at Daniel and faced her friend, smiling sadly. “I uh… well I actually…I dumped it in the river in Brooklyn.”

“Oh?” He hoped his tone was encouraging.

“I didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands. And …it was time to let go.”

“Good.” Dugan commented, grabbing a handful of peanuts from the bowl on their table. “I mean, I know you miss him. I miss him as well, but I think…I think it’s best we all move on. He’d want us to. Steve was like that.”

“Yes he was.”

“I was…I had been so caught up in the what ifs you know? What would my life had been like had he not gone missing, would we have gotten married or would we have split eventually? What would our wedding have been like? Our kids? Where would we have lived? Would he mind living in England for a time so I could be near my brother, or would we be placed firmly in the States?”

“Yeah.”

“I said goodbye to him when I drained that vial into the river, and I feel as if a weight has been lifted. I don’t know if that sounds bad or not but…”

“No, it’s good.” Dugan supplied. “You deserve to live your life Peggy, and that involves moving on from past relationships. Besides, your new job suits you. I like seeing Peggy in power.” This earned him a smile and he gave himself a mental pat on the back for that smile.

“I remember this one time, we were travelling to Germany, and we were huddled together in this train car, freezing our butts off, and Bucky…” there was a moment of silence between the two in remembrance of their other fallen friend. “Bucky starts singing this song that he used to sing as a kid in his and Steve’s neighborhood. Some old folk song his parents taught him, about struggle and survival, as they usually are, and Steve pipes up that Bucky’s birthday presents usually cost ten dollars or more, what the hell did he know of playing day to day with hand me down marbles, and the car turned quiet. Bucky’s face broke into a grin, he laughed, and then started singing louder, and Steve joined him. Afterwards, they bickered over childhood memories and tried to get us in on the argument, but we just shook our heads and smiled.”

“Sounds about right for the two of them.” Peggy replied, grinning. “They argued over who was worse at school once, when we were in this bar somewhere in England. They were actually competing on who had the worse grades. Of course it was a load of rot, both of them were brilliant. But they would say things like ‘Oh but remember when I failed that spelling test?’ and the other would counter with ‘You never failed a spelling test in your life you liar.’.” Dugan burst out laughing, causing the others to look at the two of them curiously.

“Just reminiscing, continue with your business.” Dugan commented.

“You tell the France story and I’ll break both your legs.” Pinkerton threatened sweetly. Dugan rolled his eyes and Pinkerton glared.

“Don’t worry mon petit chou, your story is safe with me.” Dugan sneered. Pinkerton flipped him off and that caused another round of laughter from Dugan.

“Tell me,” Peggy began after the calm between the groups had resumed. “ was that trip to Germany the one where you lot freed the men that had been stuck behind enemy lines? You managed to steal a bunch of service trucks and guns from the Germans and brought over a thousand people back.”

“Borrowed.” Dugan said instantly, as if he were covering up a more mischievous story, one she already knew.

“Sorry?”

“We _borrowed_ the trucks…permanently.” Peggy smiled.

“Fine, the time you lot borrowed all those trucks.” Peggy amended.

“Yes it was.” Dugan conceded. “Damn cold mission too, and that is saying something. Steve even felt it a bit, and what with the serum, it was hard for him to feel the cold easily. It took two days to find and get everyone out of there. Nearly got our heads blown off a couple of times by paranoid soldiers. Couldn’t blame them for that. They’d been trapped there for four days by the time we’d arrived.”

“From some of the reports I read it was hell.” Peggy added. Dugan nodded.

“Some of them we couldn’t move…we had to leave them and it was…awful.” Dugan took another swig of the pint he’d been nursing for the last half hour and sighed at the memory. “Why do you ask? I remember you being quite angry during our time there. Things hadn’t been going well and you got into a little argument with one of the men that came back that made you even angrier. Not that I blame you. We kept getting reports of the dead at the camps, and it was wearing us all out.”

“Well…actually…the soldier I’d quarreled with it seems was…” Peggy nodded her head towards Daniel, who was drawing something on a napkin, watched keenly by Jones, and grinning.

“Really? I’ll be damned. That man really ruffled your feathers that day, I remember that. You nearly took my head off during a sparring match we had later.”

“I was stressed. I became even more stressed after.” Peggy replied simply. “I’m sorry I almost killed you.” She added, with genuine regret. “He just…I felt like I was being reminded of how much we’d failed, were failing, would continue to fail. Hundreds of men, wounded, nearly starved, frozen, tired, on the verge of dying. People dying in those camps in the most deplorable of ways. The entire world was chaos and I felt like I was partially to blame.” At the look Dugan gave her, she waved her hands in an ‘I know, I know.’ gesture. “I think we all felt like that, just a bit. The war…did things to us all.” Dugan nodded, suddenly quiet, remembering the things he saw, the things he had to do, and what he’d had to watch other people do. “He got under my skin.” Peggy said after another minute of silence.

“Who?”

“Daniel.” Peggy looked from the bowl of nuts on the table, to Daniel, and then at Dugan. “What he said to me got under my skin, and then by extension he got under my skin as well.”

“Did you recognize him? When he came to work at the S.S.R. ?” Peggy shook her head.

“No. Not…entirely. Something sparked inside me, a sort of recognition I guess. He … _felt_   familiar but not in a way I could place.”

“He seems like he’s a good man.”

“He is.” Peggy confirmed. “Smart, resourceful, well read, street smart.” Peggy’s face suddenly sported a grin. “Able to hold his own in a fight against a Red Room assassin. He was the first one to believe me after I’d been interrogated.”

“Wasn’t he the one who brought you in?”

“Yes. But I don’t hold that against him.” Peggy smiled, and Dugan smiled in return.

“I approve.” Dugan said, testing the waters. Peggy blushed.

“How…well I’m glad you like my friend.” Dugan’s smile widened and he rolled his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Your eye roll suggests otherwise…” Peggy muttered, hiding her ever reddening face behind her own pint glass as she took a long drink.

“No, it’s nothing. Really.” Peggy huffed at his lack of wanting to share and Dugan laughed again. They watched as Cassy, Pinkerton, Sawyer, Jones, and Daniel joined their tables together and started a game of cards, Cassy producing a set of cards from her bag.  They couldn’t tell what game it was exactly, but the platers were having fun.

Peggy wondered what was going to happen next. Daniel hadn’t really spoken to her much beyond necessary words about reports and other types of information. She hoped that things hadn’t been dashed to the ground after their encounter outside Cassy’s home.

He was attractive, she admitted that much to herself. She’d always thought he was attractive, even when they’d met. Charming, definitely charming. His smile was infectious and so was his laugh. He managed to make her laugh, genuinely laugh, for the first time in years, and that brought a warm feeling to her. After the chaos with Stark and Underwood, him and Angie actually got along very well. Apparently, as they discovered during an afternoon chat at the mansion, he and Angie grew up in the same neighborhood. Angie’s mother was half Portuguese, and she grew up with her mother and brother in her grandmother’s apartment, just across the street from the one Daniel grew up in.

_“Wait, when I was ten, there was this kid who socked these boys who were bullyin’ me out on the street. They were makin’ fun of my accent and this boy came up behind ‘em, tapped two of them on the shoulder, and wham! Two of them went  down in a second. Was that you?!” Angie asked, her eyes alight with glee._

_“I seem to remember a little blonde child taking one of their baseball bats and chasing the other two down the street, me runnin’ after them to stop her from getting in trouble with their parents.” Daniel replied, his eyes similarly alight._

_“Oh my god!” Angie screamed. She shot up from her spot on the couch next to Peggy and ran to him, across the coffee table in his own chair, flinging her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly. “This is beautiful! I don’t think I ever thanked you for that.” Angie perched herself on the arm of his seat, still beaming._

_“I seem to remember you getting a good swing in and getting one of those kids good on his side. You would have been fine.”_

_“Aw hell, sure, I might have, but it was nice to have an ally.”_

So he got along with her best friend as well.

And she wasn’t going to deny the little flutter in her stomach when he smiled at her.

She loved him, that was the sum of it. Loved him as a friend and had the hope for more. Perhaps now wasn’t the time. They needed to figure out who they were. Settle in.

But what if he decided to settle here? What if he met someone in London? The fear of losing him for good suddenly rushed through her, and she hated it. She remembered feeling like this when Steve went off in the plane. Except in an odd way this was worse. She would see Daniel again. She could be reminded…

“I love him.” Peggy said quietly, just loud enough for Dugan to hear. Dugan nodded, as if she’d answered a question correctly.

“Yeah I can tell.”

“We…sort of…argued the other night.” Peggy admitted. “I said something that…it wasn’t worded well and I regret it. And this is after…he asked me out to get drinks, after the whole thing with Dottie ended. I had to help Angie, my roommate, move into the mansion and I…that was the day I got rid of Steve’s blood. I think…he thought I would say something, and I thought he would say something. He thought , from what I’ve heard from reliable sources, that he should wait, that if he asked again he’d seem pushy. I thought the same thing in a way.”

“You two are idiots.” Dugan said lightly. Peggy rolled her eyes.

“Yes, well, I suppose we are.”

“He’s clearly in love with you.” Dugan commented. Peggy turned towards him, eying him suspiciously. “Oh come on Peggy, there’s no way you don’t know.”

“He’s…had a crush on me for a long time, yes.” Peggy admitted. “I kind of used that to my advantage when I tried to run. I don’t feel great about it. I’ve apologized since then. Sort of.”

“Can’t really tactfully say ‘Hey, sorry for using the fact that you’re in love with me to my advantage when I was trying to escape capture.’ now can you?” Peggy shook her head. “Listen, I know a few things about regret.” Dugan began. “And I know that this sounds cliché, I’m aware, but I just…I don’t want to see you give up on a chance you’ll regret giving up later on in life. Daniel is a good man. You clearly love him, you said so yourself. Don’t let him go so easily. You two could be great.” Peggy blushed, touched by Dugan’s advice and how much her friend cared. She nodded.

“Oi! Dugan! Get over here!” Cassy shouted over the loud ruckus of the pub. She nudged Daniel, who rolled his eyes and got up carefully, being steadied by Cassy before grabbing his crutch and walking over to Dugan’s abandoned seat. Dugan sat down to a beaming Cassy, her exuberance infectious. “Look,” she began, suddenly serious “we have spare rooms at my house. A lot of them. Daniel has one of them but there are several more. You all shall stay with me. I’m sure Thomas , my husband, he won’t mind.”

“That’s quite generous of you Detective Maisie.” Cassy smiled at Dugan’s comment.

“Well, I like you guys. We’re already becoming fast friends. And…” Cassy eyed the table where Peggy and Daniel were now chatting, much to her relief, amiably, making sure they weren’t trying to listen in. “We had a scare. That fire last night, it was caused by Dottie Underwood. She’d been watching my house, Daniel. I don’t know the entire story yet, but she’d been holding a couple hostage and using their flat and access to the roof. They told me she said she’d leave after the time she needed, but she came back one day, reading a note that displeased her greatly. She trashed the flat, wrote a note, pinned it to the woman’s blouse, grabbed some things and then left. She set fire to a downstairs hall table, banged on a few front doors, and fled the scene.”

“Jesus…” Jones whistled. He looked mortified.

“Yes.” Cassy agreed. “Which is why, I think…it’d be better…nicer, if we had some more people in the house. Especially if they’re trained like you. I know Daniel can hold his own fine, but he’s my best friend and I’m selfish when it comes to people I care about. I would have invited you all anyway, but…”

“Daniel’s safety is an extra incentive.” Sawyer offered. Cassy nodded.

“We understand.” Pinkerton said. “And accept.” Cassy’s worried expression and the tension in her posture softened a great deal.

“Good. Great. Thank you.”

“What are you lot talking about?” Peggy called out good naturedly. She was leaning, unknown to her, Cassy was certain, very close to Daniel, who was himself unconsciously leaning into her as well, a genuine, wide smile on his face.

“All trash, about you. I told Cassy that story about you and that river in France.” Pinkerton replied in kind, earning him a ‘Piss off Pinkerton!’ from Peggy, making everyone laugh.

* * *

 

When Peggy returned to her hotel room that night, she felt the exhaustion of the day, and the last year if she were to be perfectly honest, wash over her. She ambled about her room, getting ready to go to bed, and was just about to slip under the covers when she saw it.

A photograph, black and white, of her and Daniel back in the States, at the mansion. Daniel was laughing and Peggy was beaming at him, the joy and love clear on her face for the man sitting next to her. A chill, accompanied by horror and realization, washed over her. She turned the photo around and saw writing she vaguely recognized…

_Ring-a-round the rosie,_

_A pocket full of posies,_

_Ashes! Ashes!_

_We all fall down._

_Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush!_

_We’ve all,_

_Tumbled,_

_Down._

_I know your secret Miss Peggy Carter. Kisses!_

Peggy thought she might throw up.

Dottie Underwood was in London.


End file.
